JPMorgan proves its profits don't depend on traders

Jamie Dimon proved JPMorgan Chase & Co. doesn’t just rely on its traders for profits.

Dimon 2017
James Dimon, chief executive officer of JPMorgan Chase & Co., pauses during a Bloomberg Television interview at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2017. World leaders, influential executives, bankers and policy makers attend the 47th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos from Jan. 17 - 20. Photographer: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg

JPMorgan has earned $26.5 billion in profit over the past 12 months, the most ever by any major U.S. bank. While trading results reported Friday were worse than the firm had warned, second-quarter earnings set a record and the company said it will increase loans to companies and consumers this year at a rate that’s double what analysts expected.

The biggest U.S. bank kicked off earnings season for the industry, offering insight into how Wall Street trading and advisory and Main Street lending businesses performed. Following a first quarter in which most firms posted better-than-expected trading results, bank executives including Chief Financial Officer Marianne Lake lowered expectations, saying trading revenue was 15 percent lower in April and May from a year earlier because of muted volatility.

JPMorgan overcame that with record revenue from its commercial bank and higher profit at its asset and wealth management division. The lender’s investment office also benefited from higher interest rates as the Federal Reserve raised its benchmark lending rate for the third time in six months in June.

The bank said its markets revenue fell by 14 percent. The trading decline puts into question whether the rebound in bond trading over the past year is at risk of stalling out. In late May, Lake said that markets were subdued because of uncertainty over the path of interest rates amid questions about U.S. policy and economic growth. Banks needed idiosyncratic events of the kind that helped boost trading in 2016 -- the U.S. election and U.K. referendum, for example -- to change that dynamic, she said.

The total profit in the past year surpasses the $25 billion Citigroup Inc. earned in the 12 months ended in June 2006, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Still, JPMorgan has further to go to reach its own targets for costs and return on equity. The lender is seeking to boost the latter measure by paying out more capital to shareholders. Last month, it won approval on its plan to increase its quarterly dividend 12 percent and ramp up share repurchases to $19.4 billion over the next 12 months -- roughly 90 percent more than in the prior year.

Net income rose 13 percent to $7.03 billion, or $1.82 a share, from $6.2 billion, or $1.55, a year earlier, the New York-based company said Friday in a statement. That beat the $1.58 estimate of 23 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg, helped by a $406 million gain from a legal settlement.

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